Athena's Web Weekly Column

Week of Sep 21st - Sep 27th, 2012

Sign of the Times

Fires in the German Embassy

Welcome to the Age of Aquarius.

The sign of the Water Bearer is ruled by Uranus, the planet of revolution. The United States of America was born with a Moon in Aquarius, and we are a nation born of revolution. Revolution can be a wonderful thing when the underdog takes the lead and wins out in a just cause. But Revolution is not so pretty when it runs contrary to your plans, hopes and beliefs.

One generalization about this energy is that whoever is on top going into the confrontation is not on top coming out.

The administration reassess its role in the Mideast

Things change.

Shortly after midnight early Wednesday morning (9/19), Uranus squared Pluto in the second of our series of seven alignments. Twenty-five hours earlier (9/18) Pluto pivoted in the heavens, adding to the potency of this brew. In the days leading into this planetary pivot the celestial juices were coming to a boil.

Revolution is in the AIR.

From the New York Times (NYT), September 14th, 2012-

Anti-American Protests Flare Beyond the Mideast

"Anti-American rage that began this week over a video insult to Islam spread to nearly 20 countries across the Middle East and beyond on Friday, with violent and sometimes deadly protests that convulsed the birthplaces of the Arab Spring revolutions, breached two more United States Embassies and targeted diplomatic properties of Germany and Britain."

Camp Bastion

"The anger stretched from North Africa to South Asia and Indonesia and in some cases was surprisingly destructive. In Tunis, an American-run school that was untouched during the revolution nearly two years ago was completely ransacked. In eastern Afghanistan, protesters burned an effigy of President Obama, who had made an outreach to Muslims a thematic pillar of his first year in office."

On the next day, the Times reported in another story:

US Is Preparing for a Long Siege of Arab Unrest

WASHINGTON-

"After days of anti-American violence across the Muslim world, the White House is girding itself for an extended period of turmoil that will test the security of American diplomatic missions and President Obama's ability to shape the forces of change in the Middle East."

"The upheaval over an anti-Islam video has suddenly become Mr. Obama's most serious foreign policy crisis of the election season, and a range of analysts say it presents questions about central tenets of his Middle East policy: Did he do enough during the Arab Spring to help the transition to democracy from autocracy? Has he drawn a hard enough line against Islamic extremists? Did his administration fail to address security concerns?"

And on the day after that (September 16th) the Times reported from Afghanistan:

Audacious Raid on NATO Base Shows Taliban's Reach-

Kabul-

An audacious Taliban attack on a heavily fortified base in southern Afghanistan did far more damage than initially reported, destroying or severely damaging eight attack jets in the most destructive single strike on Western materiel in the 11-year war, military officials said Sunday.

Camp Bastion Personnel

"While other attacks have caused greater loss of life, the assault late Friday at Camp Bastion in Helmand Province, one of the largest and best-defended posts in Afghanistan, was troubling to NATO because the attackers were able to penetrate the base, killing two Marines and causing more than $200 million in damage. "We're saying it's a very sophisticated attack," said a military official here. "We've lost aircraft in battle, but nothing like this."

"The complex attack, which NATO officials said was conducted by three tightly choreographed teams of militants wearing American Army uniforms, was a reminder that the Taliban remain capable of serious assaults despite the "surge" offensive against them. Now the offensive is over, and nearly 10,000 American Marines have left Helmand Province, a critical stronghold for the Taliban, over the past several months.

"Together with a rash of attacks by Afghan security forces against NATO troops- including two over the weekend that left at least six coalition service members dead- the Taliban have put new pressure on the American withdrawal plan, which calls for accelerated troop pullouts through 2014 while training Afghan forces to take over."

We still stand at the beginning of the transition into a new time, and a new way of looking at life. The pivot of Pluto, together with the Pluto-Uranus square, helped to flush this energy into being.

Revolution can come through war, or it can come through peace. The people working collectively have the power to bring about this change in a constructive way, but not if we attempt to subjugate others while stripping their countries of their natural resources. Education is another Aquarian theme.